Postal car and station appliance.



' Patented Sept. 2 I902.

'L. SCHMIEDEKE. POSTAL CAR AND STATION APPLIANCE.

(Application filed mine 9, 1902.

' 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

N0; 708,l74. Patented Sept. 2, I902.

L. SCHMIEDEKE.

POSTAL CAR AND STATION ARPLIANBE.

(Application filed June 9, 1962. (No Model.)

2 Sheatr-Shpat 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS SCHMIEDEKE, OF THERESA, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN GERLAOH, OF THERESA, WISCONSIN.

POSTAL CAR AND STATION APPLIANCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 708,174, dated September 2, 1902. Applioation filed June 9, 1902- Serial No. 110,723. (No model.)

To all whom it nuty concern.-

Be it known that I, LoUIs SCI-IMIEDEKE, a' citizen of the United States, and a resident of Theresa, in the county of Dodge and State of Wisconsin,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Postal Car and Station Appliances; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention has for its object to facilitate and insure automatic delivery and collection of mail-bags by railway postal car and sta tion appliances hereinafter particularlysetforth with reference to the accompanying.

:5 drawings and subsequently claimed.

Figures 1 andl of the drawings represent plan views, partly in horizontal section, and respectively illustrate postal car and station appliances in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2, an elevation of the same, partlyin section, this View being indicated bylines 2 2 ,in the first figure; and Fig. 3, a perspective view of one of the station appliances.

Referring by letter to the drawings, A in- 2 5 di'cates a portion of a railway postal car, and r I) each of a plurality of brackets made fast to the outside of a wall of the car adjacent toa doorway therein. The brackets serve as bearings for a vertical rod B, havingu-pper and lower arms 0 D in rigid connection therewith,

the upper arm being provided with a leverhandle E, that carries a pivotal latch F, en gageable with one or the other of a pair of keeper-brackets 0, one of which is made fast 3 5 in the doorway aforesaid and the other to the inside of the car.

The lever-controlled swing-frame, comprising rod 13 and arms CD, has the crank enddof a horizontal bar G in pivotal connection with 0 a transverse lug e of the upper one of said arms adjacent to the outer end of same. Made fast to the bar G to extend horizontally at right angles therefrom are catches in the form of spring-hooks H, abutting one another point 5 to back, the point of the outermost hook be-' ing in contact with a leaf-spring H, that is also fast to said bar and'virtually a hook fragment. In connection with the free end of bar G, pointing therefrom in an opposite 5o direction from that of the hooks H, are springplates that abut one another to form a snaphook catch I, alined with a swivel-hook J, in connection with the free end of arm D of the aforesaid swing-frame, this swivel hook in working position being open in the same direction as said snap-hook. The lever-controlled swing-frame is normally held in the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1 by means of latch F, engaging its keeper-bracket c on the inside of the car.

A mail-bag to be automatically delivered at a station is provided with abottom ring f, and a stop K of suitabledimensions (ball shape or otherwise) is connected by a flexible device g of suitable length to an upper end eye h of said bag. The flexible device g in connection with the mail-bag is forced into snap-hook catch I, that is for the time being adjacent to the doorway of the car, the stop K being then at rest on said catch, and the bottom ringf of said bag is caught on the swivel-hook J, that is also for-the time being adjacent to said doorway, after which the swing-frame and mail-bag therewith are moved outward and'latched in the position shown by full lines in Figs-1 and 2, the bar G having been pivotal-1y adjusted, so that the spring-hook catches fast thereto are forward ofthe same in the direction of travel on the part of the car.

A frame L, similar to the one best shown in Fig. 3, is erected at each postal station along the railway-track on which the car travels, and in connection with vertical pivots on a horizontal upper beam of the frame are bars M M, each equipped with spring-hooks H and a leaf-spring H, constituting catches in the same arrangement as those comprising the hooks H and spring H in connection'with bar G of the lever-controlled swing-frame above specified. The elevation of bars MM is such that when either is swung out at a right angle to the frame L it will clear bar G of the swing-frame, adjusted to'stand at a right angle to the car, and pass the framebar on a horizontal plane parallel to the same. The catches of the station-bar M extend in an opposite direction to those of station-bar M, and one or the other of these barsisswung out to have said catches thereof point in the direction from which the postal car approaches.

In pivotal connection with upper and lower horizontal beams of frame L on a plane between those of the pivots of bars M M are arms N O, the free end of the upper arm being in the form of a fork t'and that of the lower arm provided with a swivel-hook j, the arrangement of said arms when in working position being such that they clear the arm D and bar G of a swing-frame standing out from a passing car. The arm N is pivoted to swing horizontally, the same as the bars M M, and the arm 0 has its pivot at right angles to that of the former arm.

A mail-bag hung out from a car, as above described, is caught and left suspended from a catch of the swung-out station-bar M orM, and a mail-bag suspended in connection with station-arms N O by the same means as the one aforesaid (see full lines in Fig. 2 and dotted linesin Fig. 3) will be caught and carried on by a catch of bar I, belonging to the swing-frame on said car. By means of its lever the swing-frame is brought parallel to the doorway of the car, and the mail-bag caught from the bars N O of the stationframe can be readily detached.

By the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts herein specified a mail-bag suspended outside a car or at a station is automatically held in place against atmospheric disturbance, and there is a plurality of the spring-hook catches on the car and station-arms to insure the catching of the bags.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A postal-car appliance comprising a lever-controlled swing-frame adjacent to a side doorway of the car, a latch on the lever, keepers for the latch arranged with respect to holding the swing-frame in different positions of adjustment, means in connection with said swing-frame for releasable suspension of a 1nail-bag, as well as for catching and detaching such a bag from suspending devices at a station, and other means at the station for catching and holding the former bag.

2. A postal-car appliance comprising a swing-frame adjacent toa side doorway of the car, a pivotally-adjustable upper outer bar in connection with the swing-frame, a yielding catch extending in one direction from the outer end of the bar for the engagement of a flexible device connecting one end of a mailbag with a stop designed to overlie the catch, a swivel-hook in connection with the outer end of a lower swing-frame arm in alinement to said catch to engage with a ringin connection with the other end of the mail-bag and other yielding catches alined on said bar to extend therefrom in the direction opposite the former catch to be one or the other thereof engaged by a stop-attached flexible device in connection with a mail-bag suspended from a station-frame passed by said car.

3. A railway-postal-station frame having an upper horizontal beam thereof provided with a pair of bars each adjustable on vertical pivots to stand at a right angle to the frame, yielding catches alined on sides of the bars, those of one bar being extended in an opposite direction to those of the other bar, a forked-end arm in connection with a vertical pivot on an upper frame-timber the plane of this pivot being intermediate ofthose aforesaid, another arm adjustable on a horizontal pivot in connection with a lower frame-timber to stand with the other arm at a right angle to said frame, and a swivel-hook in connection with the free end of the lower arm; the catches aforesaid being singly for automatic engagement of a flexible device connecting one end of a mail-bag with a catchoverlying stop, the bag being normally suspended from a swung-out postal-car appliance provided with other yielding catches for engagement of a similar flexible device engageable with the forked-end frame-arm and connecting an overlying stop with a mailbag having a lower ring engaged by the swivelhook of the other frame-arm.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of \Viscousin, in the presence of two witnesses.

LOUIS SC ll MIEDEK E.

\Vitncsses:

N. E. OLIPHANT, B. C. RoLoFF. 

